> State drops lawsuits against Road Home recipients who used elevation grants to repair homes
State drops lawsuits against Road Home recipients who used elevation grants to repair homes
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The state of Louisiana is dropping thousands of lawsuits against homeowners who received grants to elevate their homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 but used the money to make repairs instead.
Many of those homeowners said they had been told by representatives of Road Home, the grant program, that they could use the money for repairs, according to an investigation by The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, WWL-TV and ProPublica.
“It’s about damn time,” said attorney Shermin Khan, who represented more than 50 of the 3,500 people who were sued over elevation grants.
Despite what homeowners were told, grant agreements said the money — federal grants that were managed by the state — had to be used to raise homes. Under pressure from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to recoup grants that hadn’t been spent properly, the state sued homeowners, seeking repayment of $103 million.
MORE: https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/road-home-louisiana-drop-thousands-of-lawsuits-hurricane-katrina-and-rita/289-c79b0ad8-d9e6-47cd-9607-fa96873829b4
